bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.09.01.458616; this version posted September 2, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. microRNAs as Indicators into the Causes and Consequences of Whole Genome Duplication Events Kevin J. Peterson1*, Alan Beavan2,3, Peter Chabot1, Mark L. McPeek1, Davide Pisani2,3, Bastian Fromm4, and Oleg Simakov5 Addresses: 1. Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover NH 03755 USA 2. School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Bristol, United Kingdom 3. School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Bristol, United Kingdom 4. The Arctic University Museum of Norway, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway 5. Department of Neuroscience and Developmental Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria * Author for correspondence Kevin J. Peterson Department of Biological Sciences 321 Life Sciences Center Dartmouth College 78 College St. Hanover, NH 03755 USA 603-646-0215 (v)
[email protected] bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.09.01.458616; this version posted September 2, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. Whole genome duplications (WGDs) have long been considered the causal mechanism underlying the dramatic increase in vertebrate morphological complexity relative to invertebrates.